Our First Child Free Weekend At Home

For a while now P1 and P2 have enjoyed a one night sleepover with my Mum over in Essex. It’s usually the first weekend of the month and it gave us a little bit of a break. It was never a full break because we had P3 and there’s only been a handful of times (if that) when we’ve managed to get a babysitter for a few hours so hubby and I could escape. We just felt that P3 wasn’t quite old enough to venture such a distance especially as she’d never been left overnight before.

But on the weekend of #BML16 we were able to kind of trial run a child free weekend. P1 and P2 were with my Mum for two nights and P3 had been shipped off to my MiLs for one night. It didn’t feel like we were child free though, I was busy with the blogging conference and exhausted from the hotel problems and being woken up at 5am by the fire alarm. In fact I think I felt worse than when I do have all three girls.

But the main thing is, P3 coped without us. She still slept through and as far as we are aware, she wasn’t much trouble. So we decided it was probably about time that she joined in the fun with my Mum in Essex. Her first time was last weekend. The nerves and sickness I felt beforehand was incredible. In my mind I had plans to crack on with blog work, tidy the house and go food shopping.

Now the weather is nice we tend to meet at the park for the girls to be picked up. This also gave P3 a chance to meet my Mum in an environment she knows each time the other two were picked up. Issues surrounding my Mum and I haven’t quite resolved themselves to a point where we go round for roast dinners or she comes to our house just yet so meeting at the park for half hour every month is a slow but positive progression.

This particular time, I waved goodbye to a car that contained all of my daughters. I felt excited. I felt worried. To be honest I’m not really sure how many different emotions I felt in those thirty seconds as I waved them down the road. It felt weird walking home with nobody holding my hands. And it felt even stranger walking into a house that was silent.

In the end totally relaxing took priority over being productive. It had been at least 21 months since we had a full break. We did do a food shop together which was extremely strange without children, and then the rest of the weekend was spent watching Netflix and cooking a delicious roast dinner.

I enjoyed the peace, I enjoyed the rest and having no responsibilities that weekend. But at the same time it was awful. I felt quite on edge and agitated the entire weekend. Not really knowing what to do with myself and actually feeling quite bored! Next month I need to plan for us to go out somewhere so we are distracted by the silence.

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14 comments

We don’t have relatives in the UK so we almost never are. On the occasional sleepover, we go out for dinner and have an early night.
I am sure the second time around will be better, first times are always hard!xx

Aww lovely photo! Our eldest loves sleeping over at my mums house but we’ve never left our youngest yet. I don’t think I’m quite so ready to let go! It’s a big thing for us as it is them, isn’t it? Hope they all had a lovely time! xx

so nice to be able to have some time away. And nice that they can manage without you. We only really get to have time away as a weekend away or a little holiday, as we don’t have any family close by. So we save it up and have a few days all at once 😉

We have yet to have a completely child free weekend – my parents still work full time so tey can only have the kids on very rare occasions, and even then, it’s only the two biggest for te same reasons as you. Sounds like you had a lovely weekend though!

Jodie Fisher

Welcome I am a young mum of three daughters; P1 born 2008, P2 born 2013 and P3 who was born in 2014. Our eldest is suspected to have ASD and we are going through that diagnosis process at the moment. Together with my family we cover topics relating to parenting, our daily struggles and joys of life, product reviews, our travel adventures, baking, crafts and everything in between. I hope you enjoy being here and please contact me if you have any queries.